Thursday, July 2, 2009

User Account Control In Windows 7 | Improved UAC In Windows 7

One of Windows Vista‟s most criticized features is User Account Control (UAC.) Things need to be simple when using your computer and UAC seemingly added a new level of complexity that rarely helped the average user.

I've been using Vista since Jan 2008 and have always kept UAC enabled. It's a minor annoyance, but one I'm willing to live with for better system security. My concern is that most people will find it a major annoyance and disable it.

Yes, asking a user if they want to take a specific action does add a level of security; however, if the user is clicking yes to everything, then this level of security becomes more of a stumbling block.

Microsoft listened to the user and has greatly improved UAC. For example: the default user in Windows 7 (the one you set up when you installed Windows) has the setting enabled whereby self-made changes to Windows settings do not need a prompt. However, changes made by programs still need approval.

Figure above shows the details of this setting. Note the only warnings are given when changes to the computer are requested by the software you run on it.

Currently, there are four options are offered when deciding on the level of security set by UAC. These options are range from Never notify to Always notify (Click here to know How To Use Windows Start Menu Search).

Microsoft isn‟ t the only one that made changes; other companies have built their software to work with UAC so there will be much less compatibility issues by the time Windows 7 rolls around.